Northwood Mayor Mark Stoner said there would be no further budget cuts, despite the defeat of a proposed .25 income tax increase for three years at the polls last Tuesday.

The measure, defeated by a vote of 1,088, or 66.42 percent, to 550, or 33.58 percent, would have raised the income tax from 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent had it passed. The additional revenue would have provided funds for capital improvements, capital reinvestment and operating expenses.

Stoner had made drastic cuts in personnel and services in the last year and a half as a result of reduced tax revenue collected by the city due to the poor economy.

But revenue in the last four months has slowly been rising for the city, reversing a downward trend in income tax collections for the last year.

“We’ve already done a lot of the cuts,” Stoner told The Press on Wednesday. In October, income tax revenue was up 2.5 percent compared to last October.

The Lake Township trustees have given their approval to an automatic response agreement between the township fire department and the Allen-Clay Joint Fire District but said the agreement will be reviewed after six months with an eye on what it’s costing the township.

The trustees unanimously voted in support of a resolution to enter into the agreement with the district but directed Mark Hummer, township administrator, to compile cost figures for the first six months the agreement is in effect.

Under the agreement, the township would automatically provide a rapid intervention team and ladder truck for all structure fires in the Allen-Clay district. The district, in turn, is agreeing to provide a rapid intervention team, rescue vehicle, and fire engine to all structure fires in Lake Township.

Rapid intervention teams set up outside of buildings on fire to rescue or assist endangered fire fighters inside.

Vicki Schwamberger, township fiscal officer, raised questions about the cost of the agreement, noting members of the fire department are credited for two points per hour “right out the door” for fire runs. Under the point system for the department, two points would equal $20, she said.

The recession is prompting Mayor Mike Seferian to reconsider the proposed construction of a concession/restroom facility that would serve the new South Recreation Complex.

“As you know, we had budgeted money for a concession stand and restroom facility,” Seferian said to council at a committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 1. “With the budgetary concerns we have, to proceed to build that right now, things are kind of at a holdup.”

The facility, which would be located on city owned property off Starr Extension Avenue west of the access drive and parking lots in the middle of the soccer and flag football fields, is estimated to cost $240,000, he said.

The Recreation & Parks Committee considered reducing the size or altering the proposed facility, said Seferian.

“That was something I wasn’t prepared to do,” he said.

He and Administrator Mike Beazley do not want the project to be financed with money from the General Fund, he said.

“Mr. Beazley and I are working on a different concept to fund this rather than taking general fund money to actually build this facility. The one thing we don’t want to do is fund this concession stand/restroom facility with our incoming revenues. We’re going to make it stand on its own merits, and we believe we can do that,” said Seferian.

Ohio hunters and trappers preparing to pursue furbearers will find good populations of these animals during the 2010-2011 season, which begins for most furbearing species on Nov. 10, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Wildlife.

"Food sources and habitat conditions for furbearers have been good this year across Ohio," said Suzie Prange, wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife. "Fur takers can expect a good season."

For the sixth year, 43 counties will be open for river otter trapping from December 26 to February 28. River otters were reintroduced into four Ohio watersheds between 1986 and 1993 and have increased their range in the state. They were removed from the state endangered species list in 2002. Full details of open counties, checking and permit requirements can be found in the Ohio River Otter Trapping Regulations.

In most regions of Ohio, hunting and trapping seasons for fox, raccoon, opossum, skunk and weasel open Nov. 10 and close Jan. 31, 2010. The trapping season for mink and muskrat is open Nov. 10 through Feb. 28, 2011.

Exceptions are Erie, Ottawa and Sandusky counties, and in Lucas County east of the Maumee River where raccoon, opossum, skunk, weasel, mink and muskrat trapping seasons will remain open through March 15, 2011.